UPDATE: Wood County BOE Postpones Meeting

According to policy the school board can't have a meeting unless three members are present.

Only two members were at the meeting in person Tuesday night, while two others joined via teleconference.

The meeting has been rescheduled for Wednesday night at 6:30 at the Board of Education office.___________________________________________________________

A familiar stadium that fans help fill up throughout the years will remain empty.

Wood County Schools Superintendent Doctor Patrick Law says that Stadium Field at Parkersburg High School is closing because the bleachers need repairing.

"Our first step will be to put out a request for a proposal for an architect firm to come in and really begin the process of creating a design, creating a plan for demolition."

Built in the 1920's, Stadium Field hosts several events like Big Reds and Crusaders Football.

And PHS Athletic Director, Lori Lowers says that she along with the Board of Education are finding a solution to the problem.

"We just want them to know that we are working closely with the Board of Education. We're moving quickly as we can to get things in motion, hoping to resolve this issue as quickly as possible."

The district first learned of the problem near the end of the football season.

The school's insurance company discovered cracked concrete and rusted support beams.

Dr. Law says there's not a budget in place but he is working to get immediate help.

"So we have to look at what's possible, we're going to have to depend a lot on our booster groups which we've done in other occassions when we got a major athletic facility need."

Arrangements will be made for spring sports teams that call Field Stadium home.

"I would say that there is a very good chance that they're not going to be available this spring and so what we begin to make changes and looking at how we may be to reschedule some events there," says Dr. Law.

No word on when the stadium will re-open and if it will be available for the fall sports next year.

The bleachers at the historic Parkersburg Stadium Field are off limits.Insurance inspectors told school officials an engineering study needed to be done based the cracks in the bleacher concrete.

The school board will meet Tuesday the 27th to vote on putting the engineering study out to bid.

The 87 year old bleachers went through a renovation in 1996, and have had constant upkeep, funded through the stadium committee.

To be clear, the bleachers are not condemned, but they are off limits until the engineering study is done. Until then, it's not know how costly or exactly how big of a project this could be.

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